A Lesson in Betrayal, Part Two
Team Titan Think Tank Issue 9 "A Lesson in Betrayal" (Part 2) Front cover- Toni is shown from the hips up, her goggles down over her eyes, holding up a frothing blue test tube over one eye, so it appears much bigger to the reader. The issue opens with the Narration box of "Four Years Ago", the first panel showing Cain, in his quarters in Prometheus Base, pacing up and down. “Yes, it's fine. No. Thank you.” Cain says before the pacing, closing the door to his room smoothly, then taking a few more paces within. He stands for a panel, his eyes shut. In the next, they are scrunched shut, and his claws are bunched like he wants to make fists. “What did they THINK would happen?!” he explodes, arms thrashing out at nothing. “Field work? With a power nullifying *collar* attached? A damned COLLAR! Brilliant use of my abilities, as ever, Laura...” Cain seethes on the spot, seeming to mime crushing something with both hands, before letting out a quiet hiss. He straightens up, puts his arms behind his back, and begins pacing while looking at the floor. “I ask for access to more data banks, they shut down what I already have in fear. I ask them if I can train the latest recruits, they want lessons in *writing* and me locked in this tiny room. I ask them if they would consider letting me help at *all* and they throw me to the enemy without the power to defend myself, much less the unit I'm chained to!..” Another sigh-like hiss leaves Cain as he patrols back to his bed, which he sits on, his tail snaking down one of the legs. He looks over to his desk, at the few scattered pads that lie on it. “At this rate the only option I'm going to have *left* is plotting and scheming..." "Do not lose faith. You must give them time to trust you. As an Old Master once said, a physical wound may take days, weeks, months, even years to heal, but there are few that will not heal. Emotional wounds however, are as unpredictable as fallen snowflakes, yet they do not melt so easily" comes a disembodied speech bubble. Cain's tail quickly tightens around the bed post, his stance dropping into defensive readiness. He eases up gradually, looking around the room with a steadily growing smirk. "Do not fear. Though I -do- have control of the bases internal and external sonic battery cannons, I do not plan to use them. I appreciate that you have done wrong in the past, but a man's wrongdoings do not define him, it is what he does throughout his life, good -and- bad" says the voice. "To hear you say that after these past weeks..." he says, taking a rare moment to muse over his words, "How long *have* you been listening to me? I must have stormed in here almost every day since they took me in, raging and hating." "My consciousness is spread throughout this base, but I only have one mind to listen." "Well said." he replies, taking a more comfortable position. "But I dare say, from what I've been shown so far, it'll be *years* before anyone around here would dare to trust me..." "Why does it matter if they trust you, Cain? Do you help them because you want them to like you? Or do you do it because you reached a crossroads, and decided to change your ways? Which is better, to be trusted for doing right or to have done right regardless of what others may think?" "I do it because it needs to be done!" he snaps, standing up to glare at the ceiling, "Humanity has always fought for survival. Your heroes are held in the greatest esteem, your homes are scattered as far wide as they are built tall. My people? We have no champion. We aren't even mistrusted - we are *reviled*. Scattered, killed off, spoken of in hushed whispers. Tell me, Red. Tell me, how does it feel to know the *world* wishes the end of, not just you, but everything *like* you?" "I do not know how it feels. There is no being like me. I do not even know what I am, and the one being that I thought was like me, an eternal spirit, left inhabiting the vestiges created by mankind... he is gone as well. So, though you may be hated, and your people hated, that means that you have people, that you have friends. That you are not alone. And you have a chance now to save your people. And yourself. For me, I simply wait until this base is destroyed, and my concsciousness is once again cast adrift, and then I shall be different again, remembering even less of what I am, until I am perhaps not even Red anymore." "Take solace that you have people, Cain. And that you know who you are. Let that give you strength. If you are out to prove something... then prove it. And the world will decide if that was right or wrong, not mankind." Narration- "Now." The comic cuts to Cain, in the same room, perhaps more homely and cluttered than it was before "Surely that must've been enough time for them to have gotten themselves sorted with something..." he says, closing the file he was reading over and pushing it to the side. "Red? I don't suppose you could tell me what the others are up to presently?" "Tonic, Mr Psychic, Sonne and Games Master are beginning preparations on the viral design. Yu is in his own temporary quarters, he appears to be indulging in kanji. Reb remains in the meeting room, he is doing as he said he would, attempting to learn to harness his new powers. And Mr Tops is reading a magazine about automobiles in the rec room. Cheers is on, but he doesn't appear to be watching it." Cain chuckles softly, rising from his desk "And what will -you- be doing, my friend?" "I intend to *finally* start what I came here to do four years ago, old Red. I plan to do what it takes to bring Blitzkrieg to justice. And I imagine that stripping him of all his powers would be a *fine* place to start with that." "Then you intend to help Tonic and the others with her little project?" "However I can." he says, leaving the room and carrying on the conversation down the halls, "That little tidbit I just looked into certainly helped a lifetime of stealing bio-tech make a lot more sense. *That's* why the old loon kept raving about superconductive elements!" The comic cuts to the laboratory where Tonic, Sonne, Gunn and Mr Psychic sit. Mr Psychic CERTAINLY has a cup of tea. Tonic also has a cup of tea, half-drunk and abandoned amidst stacks of paperwork and various chemicals, half of which seem to be glowing, bubbling or smoking in some way. Gunn has a glass of water, he's also out of his armour and on his crutches. In between giving advice, he's working on the empty suit. "So how's it going?" Gunn says idly, tweaking new componants. "Ah, nothing like the 1997 Nilgiri to stimulate one's mind." Tonic pours the contents of one flask into another...it flashes, and sends off purple smoke "So...our goal...is to suppress all effects of the signatory Blitzkrieg Nanites... while excluding any negative impact upon other nanite forms, electronic signals and devices, and, of course, the varying subforma of automaton into which both GRANDAD and Games Master fall..." Back in a lab environment and tinkering with chemicals, Tonic's stutter is all but gone. The Games Master walks in on through the laboratory door and nods in greeting -"Sorry I'm late." "Ah...good timing...." Tonic says. "Don't forget that GRANDAD's only transmitting to my nanites that my Dad made. You might need variables for that." Tonic nods "I intend to...I think that a carrier waveform would be the sensible medium, with the technochemical specifically attuned to it...then all that should be needed is a single carrier transmission...one pulse. The function of Nullifier is pseudo-enzymic in nature...in that it binds to and eliminates certain chemical and biological processes at their base source...as such, this should function in a similar capacity...though I fear it could prove stagnatory if the nanites are capable of adapting or any form of reactive output before the process completes.... The best structural basis for it seems to be to make this technochemical biomimetic...after all, we are targetting inorganic structures, that is to say, the nanites, for the most part within organic beings, as well as in the irorganic with its eventual transferrance to Blitzkrieg... WE could of course simplify the entire process by only eliminating the nanite control...but that seems an incomplete fix..." Cain knocks at the lab door. The Games Master, who has been standing in the background, reaches towards the doorhandle as the door opens. They share a look. "Ah, he d...does have manners, then!" Tonic blurts out. Cain stands in a Gunnward direction, quietly taking his place before leaving Tonic an impatient widening of the eyes "What is it, Cain? We're working." Gunn mutters, looking through a jewellers lense, lip-biting his tongue in concentration. "And you think a *genius* is here to interrupt you." he says back in a quiet hiss "Well he's not given me any other evidence." he pushes against the lab bench, scooting on his wheeled stool to another bench, rummaging through parts. He finds a pair of cigar-tube sized objects and pushes back to his work. "So what's the beef?" GM quite deliberatedly crosses his arms with a sigh. Tonic continues; "Gunn, I think that if, as he has volunteered, GRANDDAD is to serve as the initial vector for the output...we should eliminate the risk implicit to both he and yourself by making this as difficult as is faesibly achievable to trace, and by causing it to be self-sustaining...much as the mammalian heart has the sinu-atrial node which after the initial shock occured during foetal development sustains it for the entirety of one's life, to speak in natural terms...so that once transmitted this technochemical continues to act, adapt, and self-replicate as per living cells...I wonder, could we perhaps adapt its fundamental elements so as to cause it to attempt to counter any defences generated by the nanites in response to their attempted disablement... In layman's terms, so it adapts to any attempt to stop it?" "Sounds good. The Vector was adapted to bridge between mammal and mineral, and GRANDAD did his own crazy stuff during the cold war. I don't think he'd object. Heck, he didn't object when it WAS Going to be his diodes on the fire." "'I am cool with it', I believe, would be the colloquial term" GRANDDAD says to Sonne "The logical method to begin to develop the initial technochemical is to set our sights on something similar, I would suggest a simple efficiency boosting and redundancy eliminating techocompound...I may perhaps, should we pursue my theorum to full completion, propose that we call it AMP...the Augmented Mechanisation Primer. Games Master, are you still willing to assist us with testing this? If we can successfully create two subforms of this, one for the larger forms of automata and one for nanite systems, using Games Master and GRANDAD respectively as our trial vectors, we should be able to combine the resultant formulae to produce a countermeasure to both...that it to say, the theoretical technochemical I spoke of which can pass from those afflicted with the mind control nanites into blitzkrieg himself, and effectively disable both in terms of possessing any real power." "What... exactly..." Cain says, nursing his forehead with a claw, eyes tight in concentration, "Are you planning to... counter?" "Once we have refined the AMP, we can use this as a baseline structure from which to produce an antithesis to it...a technochemical which rather than boosting those systems, acts as an inhibitor...a circuit breaker, if you will." "Still feel like a genius, Cain?" Sonne mocks. "A countermeasure to the nanites being used for mind control, more specifically" Tonic elaborates. "Quiet, I'm thinking..!" he hisses, quietly again Games Master steps forward, his face calculating. "I understand the use of your... AMP, to counter the nanite control. That makes perfect sense, at least from the point of view of anyone who doesn't want to have to neutralise innocents and fellow heroes. I'm asking... what in *Blitzkrieg* do you intend to counter? Exactly?" Cain questions. "The BREAKER, specifically calibrated to inhibit the intrinsic capacities of both the naites and Blitzkrieg's raw power, would do the opposite of what the AMP serves to achieve...in that it would encourage system redundancies, excessive energy expenditure...and eventually entropy of the relevant aspects. In short, we encourage his own system to suppress his own powers through said redundancies leaving him without the computational capacity for their use by causing a massive amount of it to occupy itself with to all intents functionless computational procedures." "Obviously", Sonne adds. "It sounds like a chemical like that would... hm. Not so much turn his powers off, but more, against him. Correct?" "It would, to put it crudely, make his own system suppress them, as it had no excess capacity with which to use them." Cain chuckles, cutting this off in a cough. "So, you intend to target Blitzkrieg... a nanite-fuelled adaption android. No, the world's *foremost* adaptoid genius... and try and set his "anything" power to "off"." "Could this countermeasure perhaps be applied to our own team in some form as a means of protecting against any nanite-related attacks upon us?" Psychic inquires. "If you want to over simplify it, yes. It's like putting a fire into a jar. The hotter it burns, the lower it gets. It's consuming its own resources just to exist", Sonne explains to Cain. "We intend to target him with a techochemical...something that has never before been created, and therefore something he will not expect...and a self adapting one at that, so that as he attempts to adapt...so shall it. And as Sonne said, we make his own naturally adapting system do half the work for us...he will, if this works, incapacitate himself by being stuck in an endless system loop as his adaptions attempt to unravel an impossible problem" "If you can guarantee 'impossible' then I can support that. If not..." Cain muses. Games Master looks as if he's been stung at the mere thought. "There's someone a lot *less* adaptable who comes to mind being relevant to all this", Cain adds. "I can, at least on the theoretical level, guarantee that this is possible...but I would like to talk to the entire team again..." Tonic says. Yu knocks on the door, before letting himself in. His eyes seek out Tonic, but he speaks to the room in general. "I can make your virus harder to kill." "It is not a virus...but go on..." "That's an oversim-... yeah." Gunn returns to his armour, installing the hardware under the black panels. "R...Red Base?" Tonic says. Yu opens his mouth to speak, but closes it again, waiting. "Hello, Red Base?" "Getting anything, GRANDDAD?" Sonne asks. "From what?" asks GRANDDAD "... Red Base? I thought you'd be... palling around. Or whatever it is that Sentient Computers and AI's do." "Neither of us is a computer or an AI, dear boy. I am a human consciousmess within a computer system, and he is some unknown form of consciousness inhabiting the entirety of this buldiing. He is not an AI or computer system, thus, its not actually that easy for me to talk to him. Sorry to blow your misconceptions." Tonic sighs and pulls out her mobile phone instead, hitting a hotdial key. Yu folds his arms, watching Tonic with curiousity, bemused. "What is it now, Tonic?" comes from a speech bubble from the phone. "Would you like to be here f...for our b...briefing, director? In case you have anything to add... o...on the technochemical research project..." "Sounds good. Where you would you like to meet for this briefing?" "...the m...meeting room, we need to go back to get Reb from there a...already." "Very well. I'll see you there. We need to have a chat anyway... my husband just paid me a very highly strung visit..." her tone trips with acid The blood drains from Tonic's face "S...sorry....I didn't mean to...I...I will head up there n...now..." "Make sure the -entire- team is there." "Y...yes, sir..." Tonic clicks off the phone. "...W.ww.....we're in...t...trouble..." "What on earth for?" asks Mr Psychic. The comic cuts to Tonic opening the briefing room door. "Ah, so you do sometimes use doors." Mr Psychic lets out a small laugh. Tonic gives him a confused look "Are we going to make jokes every time someone uses a door?" Gunn mutters. Tonic opens the door... The room is covered in light constrcts as masses of white light. almost blinding. but then the eyes adjust. It looks likes a miniature amusement park on the table with ferris wheels and rollercoasters; they drape off of the floor in even more complex rides and attractions then spread across the floor and up the walls. Blimps float in the air, there is a jungle boat ride with teeny tiny animals moving. All the attractions move and shift in a way you expect a amusement park to move if looking form above, even seems to be moving people or mass of things moving better than the rides. This is when toni notices the rather human sized train circling the room, about less then a foot from her face. Reb is sitting on the other side of the room eyes closed and seems to be almost sleeping. "What in the name of Mendel!? AGH!" Tonic screams. Reb's eyes open and the construct falls part quickly, though the large train just strikes Toni as it is defragmenting. "AH you scared me!" he yells as Toni collapses. She has a bruise on her forehead. "Dr Toni, you ok?" he leans over the table. The rest of the Think Tank are in the corridor behind her. "What's going on?" Yu tries peering around the others. "I thought I had more time before you guys were back and and and," Reb looks really upset and his eyes water "You okay, Dr Toni?" "Reb. Why don't you just fix up Dr. Toni's owie?" Gunn limps in. "Oh yes yes," he wipes his eyes. "Don't worry. No damage done, especially if you can fix it up. No need for tears." Gunn hops to pat Reb's shoulder for a minute, before finding a chair and struggling into it. Reb's eyes light up with energy. Yu crouches by Tonic, inspecting her. He looks up at Reb, unable to hide the questioning look as he watches. "Is that better Dr Toni? I'm sorry I was just doing an experiment thought i had more time before you where back so wasn't paying full attention on anything but the constructs..." The bruise disappears. She raises a hand to her head "...ow...." "Was going for complexity, seeing the extent of complexity I could achieve, and kept pushing it. Next time I shall move onto the next stage of my experimentation plan more completely but less...trains... and general space." Tonic scrambles to her feet, brushes off her labcoat, and adjusts the goggles she still has on "...I think I may have just been the first person ever to be knocked out by a theoretical sub- particle...how bizarre..." Yu stands and moves to take a seat, apparantly satisfied, if unimpressed. Tonic will head to take a position where everyone can see her. Mr Psychic raises an eyebrow at the situation before taking his seat. "It's ok, Reb...n...no harm done..." Cain follows along inside, unfolding his arms and taking a seat quietly Games Master sees Waterstone striding down the corridor, in a very heavy footed manner. Suddenly, Reb looks more upset and seems to shrink in his seat; he knows those steps anywhere. Tonic freezes like a rabbit caught in headlights by default. "What are you standing about for? Whats happened?" says Waterstone as she gets to just outside the door, addressing GM, as GM enters awkwardly with Waterstone, as she looks around the gathering and then stares at her son. "What just happened?" she says, looking at all in turn "M....my fault, D...director, nothing i...imprortant." She glances at Reb "Toni got run over by a train." Sonne quips. "But it's OK because it was sub-atomic." "..." Waterstone looks to Reb again, then back to Sonne "... What?" Sonne shrugs. "It's what I got from what I saw. It was pretty neat. Not my field of expertise. Your son's pretty amazing though." She looks to Reb. "Sub-atomic trains?" "Erm, that is to say, during the recent simulator run, I sort of found an interesting new extention of my ablity, and well i was trying to train while the others worked in the lab and well I didn't expect them back so soon so I sort of accidently hit Dr toni with a train made out of quarks," Reb is poking his fingers together as he struggles to under the watchful mum-anger eyes. "Train... made out of... quarks?" "I...it's my fault, I d...didn't knock...don't blame Reb...." Tonic stutters. "... why would she? Reb's a genius", Sonne adds. "Sorry, not quarks, the virutal particles that exist -between- quarks. It was an experiement to test the level of complexity I could achieve with these constructs. I feel with further pushing I could replicate complexity on nearly any scale as long as I can imagine it", he smiles hoepfully under the eyes of mad mum. She steps closer to him. Until she towers over him. He looks VERY worried. Then she bends down, so that he is looking directly into her eyes... or rather the impentrable shades always over her eyes "Don't tell your brother you can do that. He's already -far- too jealous." Still bent down, "Yes Laura.. I mean Director Waterstone", Reb smiles more. "Doc, you okay?" Waterstone asks Tonic. She nods "N...no harm done." "... Why would there be? What?" Sonne asks confusedly. Waterstone looks back to Reb and kisses him on the forehead and ruffles his hair. "Well done, kid. Knew you had it in you." Reb smiles VERY wide that disturbing level kids can do so well. Waterstone then takes a seat, and puts one leg on the other, folds her arms, and leans back slightly in the seat. "So, this virus plan... hit me with it." "It's not a virus. It's a fire in a jar", Sonne explains. "But I understand the term virus better", Waterstone snarks. Mr Psychic gives a "Don't dare" glance at Reb, as in changing the word "fire" to something else. Yu seems to have absolutely nothing against Waterstone's line of thinking, his expression sanguine. Tonic takes a deep breath…and closes her eyes before speaking. “M…My initial c…creation I have provisionally named AMP: the Augmented Mechanisation Primer. It will serve as a simple power amplifier for androids, cyborgs, and the many other varieties of t…technical automaton that exist. And from this will be drawn its antithesis…which will be our weapon for liberating Titan City. The t…technochemical I have theoretically designed, would be a two-part system. Broadcast via GRANDAD’s system to cover the entire city in a single strike, and made specifically to only target those n…nanoelements signatory to Blitzkrieg himself. This will leave GRANDDAD, the nanites within Sonne, and any other electronic systems undamaged by our actions. This is in all essence a communications platform, akin to a radio or wireless broadcast, if you will. It will carry the signatory technochemical BREAKER, or t…to give its full name ‘Biomimetic Redaction Enzyme for Automatons inducing Kinetic Entropy and Redundancy’. This particular nanochemical serves one goal; to simultaneously suppress all nano-technological effects on those affected. It will, as with a b…biological enzyme, evolve and adapt against any obstructions encountered while continuing to target the systems, and as with a disease it will pass between those it targets freely. If all goes to design, it should also prove both undetectable and untraceable. There are other options, should our r…resources be insufficient or we encounter any difficulties. ‘Remove the automatic process’ : This requires Sonne or GRANDDAD to concentrate to keep it in effect…not ideal as it gives an easy target to eliminate, and makes us entirely dependent upon them not being distracted or incapacitated in any way. ‘Smaller goals’ :“A weaker option is to craft a manner of technochemical would also only inhibit Blitzkrieg’s nanite control system, not Blitzkrieg himself… ‘One shot’ :“In the primary design, the BREAKER will continue to adapt and attempt to disable the target systems even should it initially fail. We could make a one-use only form, but that risks it failing to adapt to any unforeseen difficulties, and may well make the effects less predictable to boot. Other op…options…I will not consider. We could leave GRANDDAD exposed or leave it traceable to us…both f…far too d…dangerous… As you can imagine, for the optimum results from this, we shall require as much of the past work done on the area as we can obtain: nanite research, both mine and my grandfather’s full Surge and Nullifier research, and if possible anything on more genetic robotics and mind control. That is something all of you can help with, even if you don’t feel you are of any use in the lab or the physical construction sides of this…after all, this is not a mere computer virus…this represents, as Reb put so well, an ‘experimental leap’ in both chemistry and robotics...b…but if we c….can’t do it…n…nobody can” She opens her eyes and lets out a very deep breath before slumping into her chair. “To explain the literal effects of the technochemical in layman's terms...we create an amplifier for both forms of automatons...robots, cyborgs and the like, and nanite systems that reduces energy wastage and redundant system processes. This is AMP. From this we extract its opposite, the BREAKER. This technochemical will force both the systems of Blitzkrieg and the nanites into a state of powerlessness by overrunning their systems with things that overwhealm their processors, and cause them to expend far more energy than they have, so, in short, they become powerless ...Any questions?” She cautiously opens one eye "... Do you give all your briefings with your eyes closed?" Sonne asks. Reb holds his hand up once more like Tonic is a teacher. Tonic sighs "My powers are d...distracting sometimes when I need to think..." "I don't propose a *question*, Tonic. But I do have other ideas for your proposal to try and 'switch off' Blitzkrieg." "You are a team, lets hear it Cain", says Waterstone. "It wouldn't 'switch him off'...just some of his powers...but ok..." "You see, Blitzkrieg has been defeated, and captured, before." Cain says, leaning forward on his elbows. "But ultimately, *something* goes wrong. Someone breaks him out, a system fails... other such incidents always cause his power nullification to count for naught." "...M...my system won't fail." Reb stretches his arm up more, so almost going 'Pick me miss PLEASE.' "You wouldn't be the first to say, I'm afraid, my dear... yes, Reb?" Cain says. "Go on, Reb", Tonic adds. "Erm, this isn't my area of expertise, but erm, don't programs need to work on the same operating system like a linux virus doesn't work on a pc and vice versa.. so, erm, do we have like a copy of Blitzkrieg's, like, operating system or an idea what he's done or something?" Reb suddenly feels very dumb most likely for the first time in his life. "...I had an idea for how to do that, Reb", Tonic smiles. "If we can get it...we need a sample of the nanites from Titan City." Yu stiffens, suddenly very interested. "No need for that" says Waterstone, leaning forward in her chair, placing her hands on the table. Tonic's eyes light up "Oh?" "If you're dealing with nanites, any kind of nanites, then you're -dealing- with Blitzkrieg nanites." "She's right" GRANDDAD says "Olaf Reinhardt invented nanites." "And Olaf Reinhardt -is- Blitzkrieg", says Waterstone, leaning back in her chair, smug look on her face. Reb looks to her with pride.An unimpressed Cain watches her, very lightly tapping a claw "I hate to admit it, but, though I am a nanoysystem, a system made by my human self... well, there was a lot of technology used against the enemy, made by the enemy, during the War. Its the nature of war" says GRANDDAD "And Tommy, Sonne's dad, did similar... the nanites in your body, Sonne, are reverse-engineered from a virus used to compromise his power armour when he was in space, likely not long before you were concieved." "So GRANDDAD, does that mean you're English and Russian and German systems?" Reb asks.. "A virus deployed by the Kraan Overmind. Which is an amalgam of a former Titan, and robot, Optech... who voluntarily infected himself with Blitzkrieg's own nanites after he was supposedly killed in the 70s", Waterstone finishes. "It means GRANDDAD is on tape and paper drives... which is in itself, amazing " Sonne answers Reb himself. "My computer system is, yes Reb, but don't confuse -me- with the system I inhabit..." says GRANDDAD a little gruffly "I guess the system's anagram doesn't help that, Grandad." "Wow, anything older then that he'd live in a difference engine, that is really amazing!" Reb beams. "I may be in a computer, but I still get insensitive about age comments, thank you" says GRANDDAD "Sorry, GRANDDAD, I didn't mean to insult you," Reb rubs the back of his head. "Anyway" says Waterstone "Sonne's own nanites should be sufficient enough for experimentation, to ensure you can infect Blitzkrieg's own system and still discriminate, as they have the same origin, but the design will likely differ in some ways. If you need a better point in comparison.., well, Blitzkrieg's nanites do have a habit of infecting people, and we do have some people not in Titan City I can call in. I can get you a look at more exact nanites to the ones you'll be needing to compromise, if thats what you want." Waterstone finishes. "Yes...yes that would be ex...excellent, Director..." Yu deflates, disappointed. "C...can we have access to a...any work done on the n...nanite infections by him before?" "There wasn't a lot of work done. The infections were generally considered benficial... it was only apparent he could control the infected remotely back in the early 2000s, when he controlled Gunslinger's kid and turned him on Team Titan. And his dad's a grumpy bastard, and not that willing to let people experiment on him or his kid. But those are the only two we have to work with on the testing option, I'm afraid." She then turns to Yu. "Whats up, Yu?" Yu shakes his head. "Nothing. It's unimportant." "I th...think he w...wanted to get into Titan City..." "You will be going into Titan City. But not until you are ready. I am not sending you in for samples. When you go in there, you aren't coming out until you've fixed the problem." She glares at everybody. "We clear on that?" Toni nods vigorously. "Yes Director Waterstone" says Reb. Yu nods. "We are clear." "Hey, if Dad's in there then I'm not going in without something to not end up like he is. Though I do have a fun image of a nanite-sized bee catching net", Sonne says with his usual enthusiasm. Reb looks to him and nods vigorously. "...Sonne, my g...grandad's in there too...I f...feel the same way." "Heh, then we have vested interest. Except my Grandad's... inside of...my me. I try not to think about it too much." "Remotely projecting my consciousness into a reciever which happens to be inside you. Entirely different, lad." "You say that, Grandad, but I still shower in trunks." He is, of course, jesting. "And I have an off switch" GRANDDAD jests back. Waterstone stands up and she looks at Cain. "Anything else to add Cain? I assume you weren't finished explaining an amendment to the plan." "Not remotely. But in short? I believe we need Olaf Reinhardt back." Waterstone raises an eyebrow "...What?" Reb raises his hand at Cain as if he is now teacher. "As I have tried to explain, we've dealt with Blitzkrieg in the past. He has been disabled, dissassembled, imprisoned and mind controlled. But in the end, he always finds a way out. He adapts. He continues to be a fast, tough, energy-spewing nightmare. Well, why should we simply dull his abilities for a while... when with the level of technology you're all proposing, we can restore him? Olaf Reinhardt. Nazi genius, yes... vulnerable old man?.." "...He would be to all intents a vulnerable old man, Cain...this would have the same effect on him as a full dose of Nullifier on a superhuman... As that is what it is...digitised, yes, but it is a complete power nullification through a different medium." "Until what, Tonic? He finds a way out of it again? Someone cures him?" Reb waves his hand higher at Cain. "...I told you, Cain. It adapts, and it keeps hitting. That is the beauty of it." Cain's claw digs into the table, though the rest of his form maintains composure. His eye is finally caught by Reb's mild flail. "*Yes*, Reb?" "I am not saying that it is perfect, or that he is assured never to break it...but can we say that about anything?" "Are you suggesting we reverse the process Dr Toni and Mr Gunn are currently perfecting in the lab? To de-digitise him, if you will?" "I *will*, yes, Reb." he says, glancing back to Tonic with a hiss of "Because unlike her plan, it *isn't* something he can just 'cure' or 'break out of' much less adapt to. But the principle of using his own nanites to such a major effect on him... sounds just right." he finishes with Reb again "...You think what I am sugesting is something he can just 'cure'...really?" Waterstone slams her hands on the table "Tonic. Shut up." "The only issues I think based on my limited knowledge of this area, is she is converting chemicals into electonic signals, we would also have to find a means to convert metal back to fleash", says Reb. Reb looks very upset at the slam. Gunn furrows his brow disapprovingly at Waterstone. "Nobody is questioning your smarts. Its a good plan. And Gunn, don't look at me like that. Red Base has informed me of your constant rebuttals towards Cain's perfectly valid contributions, so don't look at me like the class bully because I put Tonic down for the same." "I wasn't aware that we were being policed based on facial expressions, Ms. Waterstone. If you'd prefer, you can write up the plan and we'll enact it as you see fit." Waterstone looks to Cain. "Cain, you're a smart guy. But if you're gona be smart, you shouldn't get so wound up. Dopctor Prehistoric created you to be his second in command, not his kid. You all have valid ideas. I made you a team. That means you -work together-. Got it? -Every- opinion is valid. Nobody is an idiot. You're the -Think- Tank that means you -think-, got it?" "I get it." Gunn says neutrally, eyes fixed on Waterstone. Tonic closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths "Good, cos I ain't no science major... but I've got the smarts to know that Cain and Tonic's ideas can work together. You want to turn off the nanites and everything technological they connect to? Fine. Blitzkrieg is a human corpse... merged with nanites. he is a techno-zombie. What do you think turning the mechanical bit will -do- to the organic bit?" Yu has his elbows on the table, his hands clutched just infront of his face, propping up his head and covering his mouth as he watches the exchanges carefully. "...I...I wasn't aware of the organic bit until this precise moment...nobody had told me anything..." Cain looked incredibly dark at the mention of Prehistoric, going almost slack with not quite a death glare at Waterstone. Then, he closed his eyes, and a thought bubbles was shown of "... And the world will decide if that was right or wrong, not mankind." where his posture corrected and he had an air of patience again. "I didn't much care to have our hard work dismissed out of hand based on a principle that wasn't from a scientific background. That's all. I wasn't calling anyone stupid." Gunn says, resignedly. "A...as Sonne says..." "Well, Cain would have told you about the techno-organic link if you weren't so busy belittling his intelligence Tonic" says Waterstone "And maybe if you took some time to not act all intimidated by Cain, he might not come across so... dismissive." She looks at Cain, Tonic and Sone in turn "...I...I am not intimidated by Cain..." "Just learn to work together, because your ideas are sound, but so far, the three of you appear to have the collective maturity and trust of a child several years junior to my eldest, here." She turns to the door, ignoring Tonic. "Anything else?" "Is Red Base monitoring us for performance or trust, Mrs. Waterstone?" "Red can't much help but be everywhere, Gunn." Cain says with surprising calm, and then even a smirk, admitting "Some of us found that out the hard way." "He isn't monitoring you, I don't command him at all. I didn't put him here, he just -is.-" She turns back to Sonne "Then much like Blitzkrieg, I don't understand the full nature of him to be able to make a solid concluson. Perhaps we're running before we're walking and making assumptions, but we're going on what we've got." "And Cain has kept things to himsef constantly...he did not come to the lab for the initial design, and left us to look foolish thanks to not having information he did not attend to give when it would have been of relevance. You c...cannot hold Sonne nor I wholly r...responsible here." "I didn't. I believe I criticised all three of you." Reb has gone rather silent watching Laura lay down the law. "Mister Cain was not in the lab initially because he went to order a ballistic vest for young Mister Born" says Red Base. "Huh?" Reb looks to Cain. "A ballisitc vest... for me?" Cain groans. "There went *that* witheld information." "I am sorry Mister Cain, I thought I was helping. I only do what i do, because, I am trying to help. As are you all" Red Base adds. Yu smiles faintly behind his clutched hands. "I know, old friend. I'm sure the young man can live without it having to be a surpri... what... what are you doing, Reb?" Reb heads over as he speaks. Cain begins with a smile, but this converts into something of a confusion as he watches Reb, and then Reb hugs him. Gunn gives a begrudging nod, trying to fold his legs non-challantly, forgetting he's out of the suit, and instead muttering a grunt of pain. "Thank you mr Cain", says Reb. "... It probably doesn't help that our mission is meant to be secret. We seem to be keeping secrets from one another", Sonne adds. "This... would have lost me *significant* credibility in my old circles, you realise", Cain says to Reb. Tonic sighs "Cain, I have n...nothinhg against you...a...and I'm s...sure S...Sonne f...feels the s...same way. But w...we are f..frustrated that y...you have j...just rendered m...much of our past f..few h...hours of w...work irrelevant by n...not sharing a v...vital part of the i...information before n...now..." "... as neat as it is that Reb has added protection." Despite them, the hug continues "Your work isn't irrelevant, Tonic, just sayin' that it might have an unexpected... side effect... that you weren't considering, which Cain, may have unexpectedly pointed out", Waterstone says, having calmed. "A... hem. Well, Tonic, I *did* try to elaborate... as I entered the lab, but if you recall... I've been..." he squirms briefly, "It seems that I'm suffering a good deal of interruptions today..." Cain says. Reb pulls his hands back "Everyone might not trust you a bit, but you are a nice guy deep down regardless Mr Cain." Reb smiles to him "I'm sure things will be better now." "Maybe we should try updating each other as to what we're working on, so that others can help in ways we might not anticipate. I'm trying to work on my suit, for example, with some of the ideas I've gotten from repairing GM. I don't think anyone can much help with that, and I've been doing it while working with Toni." "See," Reb gestures to Toni and Sonne. Sonne continues; "Sentients, in my experience, tend to be mistrustful of things they don't know or can't see, Cain. I don't know how it is.. being you. But sometimes you come across as a bit... unnerving." Yu bounces a knuckle against his bottom lip thoughtfully. "All right..." Watersotne looks to Yu. "Its clear you need to get some more trust and teamwork exercises going" she says, then looking to Cain as well. She opens the door "I suggest you get on that..." Yu watches Waterstone with a calm expression. He doesn't seem to disagree. Cain, clearly struggling to find a good response to Gunn, manages to tear his gaze away to Waterstone, glance to Yu again, then nod to both. "-When- its not GSPD training time, of course. Which you -did- seem to forget, it seems. Thanks for that one." She leaves, the door slamming and locking behind her, automatically Sonne sighs. "... Aliens were so much easier, in comparison. Even if they did all hate me." End of issue